1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a hibernation function and a controlling method of the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
As image forming apparatuses in recent years have multiplied their functions, the volume of softwares for controlling these functions is increasing. As a result, there is an aggravating problem of long start-up time in power-on operation. For solving this problem, hibernation is known. Hibernation is a technique for storing, in a hard disk, the state of an apparatus immediately before power-off, and restoring the stored state of the apparatus in the RAM at a next power-on timing, so as to regain the state of the apparatus as it was before the power-off and expedite the start-up operation of programs including an OS (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-185659).
However, in a multifunction apparatus shared by plural users, there are various users and jobs of various sizes for copying, printing, faxing and so on. If the completions of jobs are awaited before hibernating the apparatus, the transition to hibernation takes long time. On the other hand, if the apparatus makes a transition to hibernation before jobs are completed, the jobs are suspended (canceled), causing a problem in the form of job loss along the way.